Biography

Gustav von Seyffertitz was born on August 4, 1863 in Haimhausen, Dachau, Bavaria [now Bavaria, Germany]. He was an actor and director, known for Sherlock Holmes (1922), Shanghai Express (1932) and The Mysterious Lady (1928). He was married to Katharina Hoffmann, Eugenie von Mink, Toni Creutzburg, Nelly Thorne and Frieda. He died on December 25, 1943 in Woodland Hills, Los Angeles, California, USA.

He came to the United States before 1920 and began a career in silent films as a director as well as an actor. Despite his thick Austrian accent, he made about 40 films after the coming of sound.

Already a veteran of the stage, he did not appear in films until well into middle age. Until the end of World War I, he appeared under the pseudonym G. Butler Clonblough, to disguise his German-speaking heritage. His aquiline features made him a perfect villain, particularly in the films of Josef von Sternberg.

He sometimes went under the name of G Butler Clonblough.